Anthony Albanese with Siena Stubbs at the Garma Festival on Saturday. Picture: Peter Eve / YYF
Newly minted Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy does not believe Anthony Albanese ditched his election promise to implement a Makarrata Commision and says ideals behind the Uluru statement are still guiding the federal government.
In a 2017 election promise, the Prime Minister pledged that his government would implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, which included a promise for a formal process for agreement-making and truth-telling.
But at the Garma Festival this weekend, Mr Albanese appeared to back away from that commitment, saying that was not what his government was proposing, leading to one of his closest Indigenous allies accusing him of breaking a clear election promise.
Despite a number of Indigenous leaders backing his push to refocus Aboriginal policy on economic development, the Prime Minister now faces fresh divisions with pro-voice campaigners over his decision to dump the Makarrata process.
Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson on Sunday night condemned the Prime Minister’s comments as confusing. She also criticised Mr Albanese’s repeated comments on Sunday that his past references to “Makarrata” were in relation to the Yolngu word for “coming together”, and not the truth-telling body outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
“Is he rolling back on the Labor election commitment to the Makarrata commission?” Ms Anderson said. “We understand that a constitutional voice didn’t get up, but the Australian people didn’t vote on truth or treaty.
“Makarrata is not a vague vibe or a series of casual conversations.
“The Makarrata called for in the Uluru Statement is a bricks-and-mortar body and it was a clear election promise.”
However speaking on ABC Breakfast on Monday, minister McCarthy said the Prime Minister was referring to members of the opposition not showing up to the festival.
“The Uluru people had opened that invitation to the Opposition Leader and to my opposition shadow (minister) Senator Nampijinpa Price, so there was an opportunity for everyone to come together,” she said.
“I know that’s what the Prime Minister was referring to, but in the midst of all the cacophony yesterday, it seemed to have got lost.”
“I would caution everyone to just calm down, that this has been a significant weekend. We are not moving away from our commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in terms of our love and our support for all of those who gathered there in 2017.”
Ms Anderson’s comments came after Mr Albanese, speaking at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land, on Saturday set out a vision for Indigenous affairs rooted in his Future Made in Australia and climate change agendas. Ben Wyatt, a former West Australian treasurer and now board member of Rio Tinto and Woodside Energy, has worked with Yawaru leader Peter Yu on the proposal for a comprehensive economic development policy taken up by Labor.
Mr Wyatt, a Yamat man, told The Australian the development of a national Indigenous economic empowerment policy framework “has long been a missing opportunity in Australia”, and economic participation would now be a more significant part of “Aboriginal empowerment”.
“Corporate Australia, particularly the mining industry, has long been intricately engaged with Indigenous communities on a shared approach to development,” Mr Wyatt said. “What has been missing is comprehensive support that only governments can bring to the table; fiscal measures, capacity building, and institutional assistance to help make this happen. And, with innovation in social policy likely to be contentious in light of the referendum result, economic participation should be a non-contentious area of policy space and will, therefore, become a much more significant leg of the Aboriginal empowerment platform.”
Ben Wyatt. Pic Colin Murty The Australian
Mr Albanese on Sunday publicly backed away from a Makarrata commission, which he fully endorsed on election night 2022.
“With regard to Makarrata, a Yolngu word – that simply means a coming together after struggle. I’m somewhat perplexed at why people see that as being complex,” he said on ABC’s Insiders.
Asked by host David Speers what he meant, he named processes that were already under way. “What it means is that this is happening,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is a coming together of people through engagement. The forums that are held, different bodies, including the body led by Pat Turner, made up of the Coalition of Peaks. It means engaging with land councils. It means engaging with native title holders … engaging with First Nations people right around the country.”
Anthony Albanese (second row, centre), Education Minister Jason Clare (first row, far left) and Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy (Second row, centre) with festival goers at Garma. Picture: Peter Eve / YYF
Peter Dutton, criticised for not attending Garma as many Liberal leaders have in the past, had committed to scrapping a Makarrata commission in a future Liberal government. The Opposition Leader accused Mr Albanese of “talking out of both sides of his mouth”. “He goes up to Garma and tells people there’s going to be a whole panacea and a whole rollout of new policy. (Then) he comes to Canberra, or comes to WA and tells people there’s nothing to see,” he said in Perth. “Why has taxpayers’ money already been spent on establishing a Makarrata commission? What will it do? Who will be appointed to it?
“The Prime Minister, again, is treating people as he did through the course of the voice by starving them of the detail they need to get a better understanding of what he’s proposing.” Mr Dutton said he did not attend this year’s Garma Festival because “it is not going to deliver the practical outcomes”. “Look at the Prime Minister’s track record. He’s had two years to try and provide practical solutions and outcomes for Indigenous communities, and the indicators under the closing of the gap are indicators they’ve gone backwards,” he said.
Anthony Albanese at Garma. Picture: Teagan Glenane / YYF
On a discussion panel at Garma, Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin made it clear the Uluru Statement asked for a Makarrata body, not Makarrata as a broad concept. “The existing commitment made … on election night was implementation of the full Uluru Statement,” he said. “There is a distinction that has emerged that I think we need to take a look at, which is commitment to Makarrata versus commitment to a Makarrata commission.”
Addressing the Garma Festival – set up by the late land rights icon Yunupingu – over the weekend, Mr Albanese talked up plans to create a point of contact between companies receiving Future Made in Australia subsidies and leaders of Indigenous communities. He said the Future Made in Australia agenda and renewables rollout would be used to lift living standards for Indigenous Australians.
The National Native Title Council is a supporter of the economic development approach, and NNTC chair Kado Muir said energy and renewables infrastructure would be “a cornerstone of economic empowerment”.